Nasa releases Martian rover-landing Xbox game

Want to have a go at landing the Curiosity rover on the Martian
landscape? Now you can, in an Xbox Live game released
by Nasa.

The Kinect-enabled Mars Rover
Landing allows players to take control of the spacecraft
as it descends towards the Martian surface -- deploying parachutes
at just the right moment and using the sky crane to lower the rover
onto the surface of the planet.

The seven-minute sequence mirrors the real landing of Curiosity,
scheduled to take place on 5 August. The process will involve the
largest supersonic parachute ever used on an interplanetary
mission, thrusters firing to slow the speed of the descending
craft, and then the UFO-like skycrane, which will deliver its
payload and then fly off and crash on the surface of the planet far
from the rover.

Alternatively, if that all sounds a bit too hair-raising, and
you prefer your games a little calmer, Nasa has also released a
beta of a Unity-powered webgame called Explore Mars:
Curiosity, which allows you to pootle around on the planet's
surface. Once the real rover is actually on the surface of the
planet, all being well during the landing, the virtual rover's
position will mirror it along its 20-kilometre journey as its makes
discoveries.